Kick off your Halloween weekend with a new episode of the History Channel series – True Monsters, tonight @10pm EST – Giants and Beasts! Featuring yours truly as one of the commentators. This is a very well done series that explores monster myths around the world… while incorporating some really creepy reenactments. The new episode will be preceded by three that have aired previously…

True Monsters Cannibals and Killers
Fri October 30, 6:00 PM Central

Real monsters are behind our greatest legends. This episode takes us into the belly of the beast to find the surprising truths behind history’s most mythic cannibals and killers. Does a banshee born during the Revolutionary War still curse the North Carolina woods? Plus, a medieval clan of cannibals out for blood in 16th century Scotland, and did a fairy tale villain named Bluebeard inspire a notorious Chicago World’s Fair serial killer? And, could real zombies walk among us, created by a potion from puffer fish?

True Monsters Devils and Hell
Fri October 30, 7:00 PM Central

Real monsters are behind our greatest legends. The gates of Hell are unlocked to reveal the surprising truths and devilish secrets of Satan, demons, and other powerful rulers of the Underworld. In the 17th century, a beastly devil is born deep in the woods of New Jersey and is said to still wreak havoc in a place called the Pine Barrens. Plus, from evil Jinn, whose power a nuclear physicist tried to tap, to a Christmas devil that takes naughty kids to Hell, to a two-faced female demon named Hel who presided over the dead in the icy North, there’s a lot to learn about our devils and the history that inspired them.

True Monsters Gods and Monsters
Fri October 30, 8:00 PM Central

Real monsters are behind our greatest legends. Greek and Norse mythologies are the source of epic tales of gods and monsters battling it out to rule the world. But could any of these celebrated heroes and villains have been real? Thunder god Thor was a central figure in Scandinavian folklore, but was he based on a real warrior? And, if he was, could his hammer called Mjolnir really harness lightning? Plus, new evidence suggests the discovery of the birthplace of the legendary god Zeus, atop a mountain in Greece. Why does Medusa have a head of snakes, and what atrocity did she endure that still affects women today? And, could the true myth of Prometheus solve an ancient medical mystery?

True Monsters Giants and Beasts
Fri October 30, 9:00 PM Central

Real monsters are behind our greatest legends. Stories of giants and beasts permeate our past and fascinate us in the present. From the Bible’s Goliath to the Cyclops of Greek mythology, our colossal adversaries inspire tantalizing tales of terror. Now, new evidence suggests that many of these mythical creatures may have been anything but made up. Could the real labyrinth of a man-bull named the Minotaur have been discovered? Do fossils prove Cyclops legends are true? Could a monster named Grendel from the famous tale of Beowulf actually have stalked a banquet hall in Denmark? New evidence suggests many of our giants and beasts were real – but in ways you’ve surely never imagined.

The episodes repeat between 11:01 PM – 2:01 AM into the morning of Halloween, and then again from 8:00 AM through noon.

#HistoryChannel #TrueMonsters

About Ken GerhardKen has investigated reports of mysterious beasts around the world including Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, the Chupacabra, giant winged creatures and even werewolves. In addition to appearing in three episodes of the television series Monster Quest (History Channel), Ken is featured in the History Channel special The Real Wolfman, as well as Legend Hunters (Travel Channel/A&E), Paranatural (National Geographic), Ultimate Encounters (truTV) and William Shatner's Weird or What? (History Television). His credits include multiple appearances on Coast to Coast AM, major news broadcasts and Ireland’s Newstalk radio, as well as being featured in major books and in articles by the Associated Press, Houston Chronicle and Tampa Tribune. Ken is author of the books Big Bird: Modern Sightings of Flying Monsters and A Menagerie of Mysterious Beasts: Encounters with Cryptid Creatures, as well as the co-author of Monsters of Texas (with Nick Redfern) and has contributed to trade publications including Fate Magazine, Animals and Men, The Journal of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club and Bigfoot Times. He currently lectures and exhibits at events across America. Born on Friday the 13th of October, 1967 (exactly one week before the famous Patterson Bigfoot film was shot), Ken has traveled to twenty-six different countries on six continents and most of the United States. An avid adventurer, he has camped along the Amazon, explored the Galapagos, hiked the Australian Outback and has visited many ancient and mysterious sites, from Machu Pichu to Stonehenge.